The cloud of ash that has crippled air travel over much of Europe has intrigued me for several days. It is a great example of a misnomer that all of us in the western world have been raised to believe. That our economic system is at the top and that the earth serves it. In reality, our economic system is the giant tail, and the dog is the earth and its atmosphere.

Eventually, the dog always wins at the expense of the tail. Sometimes it just takes a long time for it to play out.

Over the last several hundred years we have looked at our economic systems as paramount, with the earths systems (and resources) as a subset of the economy. We take from the earth via extraction and pollution, and feed our economic systems. In essence we have used the earth and people to serve the economic system.

In reality we have it exactly backwards. The earth and atmosphere are the primary resource, and the economy serves under it. Without a healthy earth, there is no economy.

Any farmer that needs to keep his land producing for more than a few years knows that his or her farm can only yield so much. Sure, technical advancements can help, but over time, if the farmer overuses the fields, the farmers personal economy goes under. Our earth is one giant farm.

The cloud of ash is the great reminder that mother nature is bigger than us. As the planes have been grounded people are now screaming that the economy is getting hurt. We are the tail and she is the dog.

And I think she is getting tired of being pushed around.

The ash is not man made, but it is a reminder that she is boss and we can only work in a mutually beneficial partnership with her.

Recognition and adjustment to this paradigm would go a long way in creating sustainable economics. So that’s my rant for today.

No matter what you call it, there is momentum for a new kind of capitalism… a sustainable economy that is not dependent on depleting non-renewable resources and exploiting our fellow man. It goes by many names:

Social entrepreneurship

Sustainable economics

Conscious capitalism

Green economics

Green business

Sustainable business

Corporate Social Responsibility

Socially Conscious business

B Companies

Capitalism 3.0

Sustainable Consumption

There are more buzzwords and acronyms, and they do have slightly different meanings. If I am an executive at a large multinational company, social entreprenuership represents different things than corporate social responsibility. From a big picture perspective though, they are similar.

There is a critical mass of people in the world building now that can see that our planet and population simply cannot maintain unsustainable systems for much longer. And there are enough people in that camp now that things are starting to move.

Some evidence of this movement could be the abundance of conferences on the subject, the recognition at the world economic forum to make Sustainable Economics a key pillar, the many different blogs on the subject and the appointment of people in the executive suite at large multinationals that are focused on sustainability. One thing is for sure, there is now pressure from the top (the C-Suite and global economic initiatives) and the bottom (entrepreneurs and small businesses; individual choices making a difference in large economies).

That tells me it’s a movement and not a fad. And I am happy the movement is here. What will you do to move it forward faster?

I have worked in several areas of green business and things are getting better for sure. Nevertheless the bottom line that is stopping growth of clean energy use is the fact that it is free to pollute.

When I have this discussion with friends that do not study this stuff on a daily basis we often end up in the same place. The friend claims that they want to do the right thing but it is just too expensive. If solar or wind were simply cheaper than coal, then that would have no problem buying solar or wind for their home.

Of course the discussion takes many turns. First I tell them that to buy solar or wind for their own home is like buying a power plant for the house. Right now they pay by the month because the central power plant was financed, so why not finance your own power plant?

Secondly though, I explain that the health and environmental costs are currently not figured in to existing pricing when buying energy from the grid that is usually produced from coal. I then go on to explain externalities. This usually takes at least one beer’s worth of discussion for the non-financial types. Once they get it though, they see their energy in a whole new light.

Until there is a cost to energy, only a breakthrough technology will get us over the hump. The long but interesting article in the New York Times magazine is a great primer.

Lots of news is out there about green jobs these days. I am working as Executive Director of the Institute for Building Systems. We are training some of those workers… and training people in the standards to make sure the results really are green. But building systems is only one part of the green economy.

Transportation, energy, engineering, agriculture… Literally every aspect of our economy will change over the next 20-40 years. So get ready. You can see it as a problem or an opportunity. I see it as an opportunity.

From conventional to social entrepreneur

I just got off the phone with Michael Strong, owner of Greenhaus Builders, Houston’s leading green builder.

Michael has been in the building and remodeling industry for over 20 years. Several years ago he decided to make the move from a standard remodeler to a green builder. This is no simple task. The market and societal forces were clearly against him at the time. This is long before building green was hip.

Even more difficult, in his area a semi-custom new built home can cost under $100 per square foot, and the work he is doing costs double that.
What kind of challenges do you think a person committed to doing the right thing might have when the market is screaming at him to keep doing it the old way?

The answer stunned me.

The biggest problem in his conversion (which is still underway) has not been getting enough customers. It has been from resistance internally with his employees and subcontractors.

People are so entrenched in the old ways of doing things they simply resist any change. “People like the idea of going green when they just have to listen to stories and see product presentations. They are always right with me to drive me to the airport and see me off on my adventures. But when the rubber meets the road and they actually have to do something different than what they are used to, their enthusiasm quickly wanes.” Michael told me.

This to me is a classic problem faced by the new social entrepreneurs. These are the people taking big risks to do the right thing; the people sensing a change in consciousness that is moving markets and communities large and small and putting their money where their heart is.

For social entrepreneurs resistance can come from the most unexpected places, like our own employees and subcontractors that will actually benefit from the change. Support and good news can also shower the social entrepreneur with nice surprises. Like when legions of like-minded people are discovered and wanting to give support (and spend their money) that had never been heard. The feeling is as if there were thousand of people out there alone, and all of a sudden they are given a voice. Its those surprises that keep the fire burning.

There are signs that things are getting better for the social entrepreneur, even though being one can sometimes be a lonely and difficult struggle.

For all its good and bad points, the World Economic Forum is a place where the big decision makers on world issues in business and politics meet and trends are discussed. A few years ago sustainability was a fringe topic. Now it is one of the six formal “pillars” of the event.

It’s one more step on a very long but worthwhile trip. That and getting our subcontractors to do what the customer asks for.

The triple bottom line measures more than just profit and loss. It captures a different way to measure organizational success. In practical terms, it is a way to measure not just financial performance, but the performance of social and ecological performance.It has been described this way.

“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”
— Bill Drayton, CEO, chair and founder of Ashoka, a global nonprofit organization devoted to developing the profession of social entrepreneurship

Whether by accident or some sort of greater design, more and more of my work activities have led me to work and interact with the new breed of social entrepreneurs.

Just this week I have interviewed a publisher in the green building industry, corresponded with two contractors that are taking their businesses from “standard” businesses to green businesses and have a meeting with a realtor that developed the first ever “Green MLS.” Now she’s helping other major cities do the same. My business development work at the Institute for Building Systems is keeping me knee deep in all of the aspects of starting a business based on green building practices.

But what is a social entrepreneur anyhow, compared to a “regular” entrepreneur?

According to Wikipedia, “A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.”

Social entrepreneurs start organizations with a mission of more than just making money. They also have a mission of helping the greater society (local, regional or national). They will usually sacrifice a significant amount of money for the good of the cause of the organization. Social enterprises started by these entrepreneurs can be for profit or not for profit.

Entrepreneurs start enterprises and assume significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome. No one person is big enough to drive even the smallest socially responsible organization on their own. Forming alliances with likeminded people and driving the business building process forward is critical.

The most famous of the for profit social entrepreneurs are people like Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farms and Jeffery Hollander of Seventh Generation for instance. But the small guy is just as important.

Every electrician that has a family to feed and chooses to spend extra money for training and risk his meager marketing budget to re-work his business into a solar installation company at the early side of the market cycle is also participating. The legions of organic farmers across the country that know they could make more money by farming with standard practices also contributes to the social entrepreneurship landscape.

And of course, those that start non-profits fall into the same category. The key is that these people are the visionaries and risk takers, whether for profit or not-for-profit. They dive in with both feet when there is no safety net, and do it for the good of the community, not just the good of their wallets. They are balancing both kinds of green!